Around the blogosphere

Tips for writing a research paper - 10 tips for students writing a research paper. Just in time for the start of school.

Rent vs. Owning a new perspective - is it always better to buy than to rent? throwing money away to a landlord vs. throwing money away in interest rate payments that are stacked against you.

Flying with your pet - Need to take your ferret or you pot bellied pig on a flight?

10 tips for working from home with kids - If you are self employed and a parent check out these timely tips.

10 ways to entertain kids for under $1.00 - One last list of 10.

-vc

In Case of Reading Emergency Pop the Trunk!

Very funny article in The Orgonian by Brian Doyle. I think this is one for the readaholic test. Do you carry books in the trunk of your car in case of a reading emergency. You might be a readaholic! Enjoy -vicky

Social Networks in Plain English

Sue Schneider and I love Lee Lefever's Commoncraft Shows on Web2.0. Here's his latest on Social Networking. If you like this one take a look at Wiki's in Plain English and RSS in Plain English




-vicky

Garrison Keillor on Public Libraries

In a July 1st opinion piece in The Salt Lake Tribune Garrison Keillor praised the public library as "the temple of freedom". He said the public library was "a place where serious people go to have the freedom to think without anybody poking and prodding them..." His article is titled Keillor: A trip to the library can restore your faith in democracy. Check it out for yourself.

-vicky



Warning Garrison Keillor's politics are liberal. His views do not represent those of the library administration , the library board or the town of Newington.

Connecticut State Historian's Website and Blog

If you're interested in Connecticut history, you'll want to know about Walt Woodward's blog. As the State Historian for Connecticut, Mr. Woodward is very much involved with the myriad of events going on around the state that are dedicated to Connecticut's history. A good way for you to keep informed is by visiting his website and reading his blog. His website and blog are available at: http://www.cthistory.org/.

I've had the wonderful opportunity of meeting Mr. Woodward and he's a very kind, gregarious and inviting fellow. If anyone can make you care about history, it's Mr. Woodward and his site is definitely worth a look (or two)!

More on Ask.com

Yesterday at the SNRG (Sirsi Northeast Region users Group) conference I learned more neat stuff about Ask.com.

Ask.com now helps you narrow your search and gives you it's best result right on the top of the screen.

You can read Ask.com:The Other Search Engine by Kevin Newcomb for ClickZ News or go directly to Ask.com and try it yourself.

have fun.

-vicky

Sites I found this week.

The staff at the library are learning about Web 2.0 and Library 2.0. Sue Schneider and I are writing lessons in a blog. One reason I love training library staff is that I learn so much in preparation for the lessons I teach. So today I thought I would share with the readers of this blog some neat sites I found this week while preparing my lesson.

AskCity: Ask.com has created an interactive map where you can locate businesses, movies and events in a city. You can drill down to the street level with this search. The items you searched for are pinned on the street. When you click on the pin the phone number, address, email and directions pop up. You can click pin it and customize the pin to include your own notes about the item you can even include a photo.

And best of all once you have created these searches and customized them you can save a snapshot and return to it the next time you visit the site.

You can display the map only or a side by side map and a text list of your results.

LivePlasma: A visual search engine to recommend music or movies similar to one you enter in the search. I searched Amy Grant and right away it selected 4 or 5 other artists I like to listen to. So it will encourage me to listen to others in the results map. I circled the results I already like listening too.

On the left are links to albums or movies for your original search. If you want albums or movies for any of the search results just click on the circle. You can also add the search results to your favorites.

-vicky